Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- China’s imports of olive oil surged
about 38 percent in the 2011-12 marketing year, compared with a
year earlier, the International Olive Council said.

China purchased 45,058 tons of olive oil and olive pomace
oils, the IOC said today in a report on its website. About 60
percent of those purchases were shipped from Spain, 24 percent
from Italy and 6 percent from Greece. Eight-four percent of
China’s imports were virgin olive oil.

Global olive oil imports rose 4.6 percent from a year
earlier, with Japan boosting purchases by 21 percent, Russia by
15 percent and Brazil and the U.S. by 9 percent.